The other night in lodge it was brought up that the mentoring of younger/newer members has really slacked in recent years. It was mentioned that this leads to non-attendance due to them non feeling 100% comfortable.

Any input on this or how does your lodge deal with it?

Bilbo Baggins

03-08-2011, 11:13

When I was still in Pennsylvania initiates were not required to learn much for advancment so they were pretty much ignored by most of the members until after raising. I think this was a huge problem as the attandance showed.
Moved to Georgia a few years ago and became a dual member. here the candidate is required to learn a Catacism(spelling?) before advancing through each degree. I see them spending time at the lodge with thier coach and in turn meeting and getting to know the Bretheren who are about the lodge. I see a much greater attendence with these newer Brothers.
So from my personal experience the new candidates need to be Mentored and included in the goings on at the lodge. Nothing says you cannot invite them down for the meal before the meeting, or come to a work night/day to help out with whatever is going on. Also encourage questions. there is a huge amout of information and customs that are not really explained to them as they progress.

Rustyaxecamp

03-08-2011, 13:34

So from my personal experience the new candidates need to be Mentored and included in the goings on at the lodge. Nothing says you cannot invite them down for the meal before the meeting, or come to a work night/day to help out with whatever is going on. Also encourage questions. there is a huge amout of information and customs that are not really explained to them as they progress.

This is exactly what the brother mentioned.

We are going to try to follow through with it this year at our lodge and see if it helps.

Hyksos

03-14-2011, 13:17

We just had a discussion about this recently in my lodge. According to the rules, candidates are supposed to be mentored before they are initiated, as well as after the initiation and after the FC degree. The brothers were learning the catechisms but not being told about the rich history and inner workings of the fraternity they joined.

I was fortunate in that I had the state chairman for the committee on work as my mentor, he made sure we learned EVERYTHING and he did everything by the book. I'm young, 25 next month, but I have already began mentoring the new brothers and got the WM's permission to discuss future mentoring sessions with the Education Committee guy. I have a BA in History, and it is in my study of American history where I first came across Masonry, so I guess they felt confident I would be relaying accurate information about the history of Masonry. I've done a ton of private research as well.

Edit: For the record, I am NOT referring to the catechism (proficiency) that must be completed in order to advance to the next degree. The brothers were learning the catechisms just fine, but they had absolutely no context about why the catechism IS the way it is and what each part of it meant. They were merely repeating it, not understanding it.

I had no idea some GL jurisdictions do not require a catechism.

tackdr1ver

04-09-2011, 15:05

In our lodge each Candidate is assigned a coach who teaches them Catechisms for the first two Degrees. Upon receiving the 3rd, the Candidate is not required to do anything further. But in our lodge it has been a tradition to at least know the obligation for the 3rd despite the Grand Lodge requirements.

I would prefer to require them to know the entire 3rd as well.

deputy tom

04-10-2011, 09:52

When I joined the Craft thirty four years ago,I was instructed by the WM who was my Recommender's brother-in-law.At that time here in PA it was required to be able to recite the oaths verbatem,give all manners of recognition and have a working knowledge of the entire degree in your own words prior to advancement.I was fortunate to have had such a good friend and mentor in the WM.I learned everything needed and the Officer's parts as well.This made me a better Officer when that chain of events occured.Good luck in your travels.tom.